Description of the Region (Geographical extent, topography, climate, and vegetation) The Maharashtra state is about 800 km east-west and 700 km north-south, an irregular dentate pentagon, lying between 22" r-16 " 4' north latitude and 72 " 6'-80 " 9' east longitude, covering an area of 3,07,690 sq km. It is limited to the west by the Arabian Sea, making a long coastline of 720 km. by Goa and Karnataka to the south, by Andhra Pradesh on the south-east, and Madhya Pradesh on the north, and Gujarat to its north-west (Map 1). Western Ghats or Sahyadri separate coastal strip of Konkan from rest of the plateau and thereby altitude ranges from mean sea level to about 1200 m on Western Ghats (with some highest peaks in the range like Kalsubai- 1654 m, Mahabaleshwar- 1382 m) and about 200-900 m over the rest. Average rainfall in the state varies from 250 cm in Konkan to 60-75 cm in Marathwada and again increasing to 150 cm towards eastern most part of Maharashtra that is Vidarbha. It forms a large part of Indian Peninsula. Similarly temperature varies between I5"C-47''C. Relative humidity fluctuate between 15% to 90%. Nearly 21% of the geographical area is under forest. Physiography Physiographically the state is divided into 5 divisions 1. Konkan, 2. Deccan or Desh, 3. Khandesh, 4. Marathwada and 5. Vidarbha (Map 2). Konkan, a narrow coastal strip of the west of Sahyadris, varies between 27-48 km in breadth and 800 km in length from Goa to Tapi Basin. The average height of the region is 6-9 m from mean sea level. It comprises 5 districts- Bombay, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Thane. Deccan is lying to the east of Sahyadris which is approximately 563 km long. The average height of Sahyadri hills in Deccan is 1200 m and the highest range at Kalsubai is 1646 m. It consists of 7 districts - Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Nasik, Pune, Sangli. Satara and Solapur. )Nlondurbar .rr'-'^!T.» _. ^i^-fiu--^-^.r--. .'• * ' • .,••... • * A «^. a u g:ii-ii'' • : . i, •'•••I Wardhai ij.-r-'i'lt i"*;""'' i^- "•-'*• _ .» ••5>'-'V>'.ii.. 3... .•.'._._.. »•• ' ,j.- ... 11 :.;...,;• I . •' ^.•.•.;*;. Satara Ralnagirl-:".' * ^ -f KONKAN DESH / DECCAN -•'Xolhapur KHANDESH Sindhuinirg V * "j too 200 km —1 MARTHWADA ••v • •••-•^ VIDARBHA Map 2. Physiographical 5 divisions of Maharashtra state Khandesh lies in valley of the Tapi river located between Ajantha and Satpuda ranges and separated from western Maharashtra by the hills of Laling and Silvari. The 3 complete districts in Khandesh are Dhule, Jalgaon and Nandurbar. Besides, Baglan in Satana taluka of Nasik district is also considered as a part of Khandesh. Marathwada is a vast plateau to the east of Sahyadri. It consist of 8 districts of Maharashtra viz., Aurangabad, Seed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad and Parbhani. Vidarbha or the eastern Maharashtra comprises 11 districts viz., Akola, Amravati, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Gadchiruli, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha, Wasim and Yavatmal. It stands on an upland plateau of 457 to 548.6 m elevation (M.R. Almeida, 1998). Presently, it has been divided into 34 districts. Maharashtra is essentially a part of Western India and the northern part of the Western Ghats ranging from Parner fort on Daman-Ganga to Baba Budhan Hills in Mysore through Savantwadi and Goa is called Sahyadri. These are flat-topped mountains having a varying height of 20 to 2000 m above the sea level. These run north-south and are about 750 km in Maharashtra. These are 50-80 km broad and separate the Desh from narrow coastal strip of Konkan. It is widest, about 75-80 km, in Ulhas-Vaitarna valley in Bombay region. The Satmala range of the Sahyadri mountains starts from Saptashringi hills and extends towards Daulatabad, Aurangabad and Manmad. There is a gap in these ranges between Daulatabad, Manmad and Ajantha ranges, which is called Ajantha- Daulatabad-Ankai gap. Below this comes the second important range of mountains known as the Balaghat range, it starts from Harischandragad in Akola taluka of Ahmednagar district and extends up to Gulbarga, through Bidar and Osmanabad. The third mountain range running west-east is known as Shambhu Mahadev mountains. They extend further into Karnataka. The Desh plateau rises by stages from 335-366 m and 377-610 m at different places but the major part of Maharashtra is only 91-183 m high on the Desh side. The highest peaks of the Sahyadris lie near its main axis forming watershed between Desh and Konkan. The altitude drops suddenly to 122 m on Konkan side and thence almost to sea level. Strong hill forts on the peaks and spurs of Sahyadris have been known since the days of Kadambas. The famous among them are Sinhagad, Raigad, Pratapgad, Purandhar, Panhala, Harishchandragad, Shivneri, Daulatabad. Songa, Aguada and Fonda etc. Two conspicuous features in the scenery of Sahyadris are the mountain passes and 'Mavais'. The mountain passes locally called Ghat (Map 4) or Bari are the connecting routs between Desh and Konkan. These are often quite narrow and lead from plains at lower altitude to higher mountain plateau and vice versa. These ghats are very zig-zag paths in the weak sectors of mountain with a scarp or cannon on one side and a valley on the other. There are 72 ghats in Maharashtra among which the famous are - Bor ghat or Khandala ghat between Bombay and Pune, Kasara ghat or Thai ghat between Bombay and Nasik, Pasarni ghat between Wai and Mahabaleshwar, Phonda ghat between Kolhapur and Kankavli, Varandha ghat between Bhor and Mahad, Fitzerald ghat or Ambenali ghat between Mahabaleshwar and Mahad, Amba ghat between Kolhapur and Ratnagiri, Amboli ghat between Kolhapur, Ajra and Sawantwadi, Malshej ghat between Bombay and Junnar, Meighat between Gavilgad and Amravati, Aner ghat between Narmada and Indore, Gonda ghat between Mokhada and Trimbakeshwar, Parsuram ghat between Khed and Chiplun; Par ghat between Poladpur and Wada Kumbharoshi, Kumbharii ghat between Chiplun and Patan, Katraj ghat between Pune and Bhor, Diva ghat between Hadapsar and Saswad, Chandwad ghat between Nasik and Malegaon, Ramghat between Amboli and Goa, Nane ghat between Murbad and Junnar, Bawda ghat between Vaibhavwadi and Gaganbawda, Kudal ghat between Wai and Jauli, Nandurbar ghat between Jalgaon and Surat and Ankai pass between Ajanta and Daulatabad. 'Mavais' are valleys well protected by two mountain spurs running parallel and are fed by mountain streams. They are well protected uplands, well-drained valleys, and well-watered by hill streams. They are different from the surrounding areas and provide unique climate and locations for plant growth in isolated conditions. They are something like the shoals in the Nilgiris in South India. Valleys of Mavais below Junnar are called 'Nere'. The word is derived from the Persion word Nehar, which means a tributary or a rivulet or a canal. Drainage System The drainage system of Maharashtra is fed by six major rivers and many small rivulets. Originating from Desh part of elevated hill stations, all of the major rivers (except Narmada) flow into the Bay of Bengal after crossing the boundary of this state whereas the small rivulets enter into the Konkan region and meet the Arabian sea. The six major river system pass through Maharashtra are Narmada-Tapi-Purna, Wardha, Godavari, Bhima, Krishna and Hiranyakeshi or Ghatprabha. Soil Soils of Maharashtra are mainly formed from the Deccan Traps, generally from the augite or amygdaldial basalt. These soils are black, dark brown or reddish in colour, and hence are called Black Cotton soils, or 'Regur' soils meaning thereby red soils. Very small proportions of soils are believed to have derived from Vindhyan and Gondwana formations. They are sandy or loamy soils, which are found at Nagpur, Bhandara, Chandrapur and at Redi and Savantwadi in Sindhudurg district. Black Cotton soils or 'Regur' have high percentage of clay and are heavy in texture. They are sticky and plastic in nature and swell on wetting and shrink on drying. They contain adequate mineral nutrients and micronutrients and hence they provide good habitat for plant growth. It is slightly alkaline in nature and poor in humus and nitrogen. Generally deep black cotton soils are not formed at high altitudes of mountains. The black cotton soils in rain scarce zones of Ahmednagar, Solapur, Jalna, Beed and Aurangabad are saline and therefore infertile. In Desh, two different types of soils are found. The first light brown soil in Mavals, the other deep coloured soil found on low gradients occurs in Kolhapur, Satara, Pune and Nasik districts. In this region, below the black soil, there is generally coarsely powdered sedimentary rock, which is called 'Murum' mixed sometimes with lime or 'Kankar' or salt or salinised lime and gypsum. In high temperature areas of Deccan Trap salt accumulates on the surfaces or it remains at a certain depth in the soil and leads to salination and then to alkalization which is harmful to plant growth and affect the yield. In Konkan the seawater periodically deposits salts and then this is washed away by fresh flooding monsoon water. These lands are known as Kharlands. The soils in Khandesh and Vidarbha have a fair amount of calcium either as nodules (Kankar), or in layers which reduces the salinity of soil. Climate The climate of Maharashtra is monsoonal. It is controlled by Arabian sea by its cooling effect and by Sahyadri mountains by its altitude. The year is divided into four main seasons. The winter season from December to February, summer season from March to May, monsoon season from June to September and postmonsoon season from October to November. On the basis of climate, the state can be classified under the following main types.